


You Wear Your Heart Like A New Tattoo

by DashFlintceschi



Series: Prompt Table [12]
Category: Bring Me The Horizon, You Me At Six
Genre: Age Difference, M/M, drinking under US legal age, everyone's legal though, legal in the UK though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:41:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26256565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DashFlintceschi/pseuds/DashFlintceschi
Summary: Dan; 33, divorced, works an office job he hates. Josh; 19, still believes in Happily Ever After, studying for a degree in a subject he loves. They couldn't be more opposite, but Chris looks at them and sees a match made in heaven.
Relationships: Dan Flint/Josh Franceschi
Series: Prompt Table [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/510521
Kudos: 4





	You Wear Your Heart Like A New Tattoo

**Author's Note:**

> Number 15: Match-Making.
> 
> Title from YMAS's song Danger.

Dan groans in relief as he settles into his favourite armchair in Chris’ living room with a beer. It’s been a long week, too much overtime at the job he hates, too much contact with the ex-wife he hates, and nowhere near enough time to relax or even sleep much. Chris laughs softly and shakes his head as he sits down across from him. He’d have thrown out that chair years ago, it’s been falling apart for a while, if it weren’t for how much Dan loves it. He’s been glad this past year, that he never got rid of it, it seems like the chair supported Dan through the divorce as much as Chris did.

They sit together in comfortable silence for a while, then Chris quietly clears his throat.

“So, you ready to let me set you up with someone yet?” It’s been six months since the divorce was finalised, and almost a year and a half since Dan accepted their marriage was over and let her leave. Chris has been trying on and off to set him up with people for close to a year now, but Dan’s shut him down every time, at first it was because he wasn’t ready, now he keeps making up excuses. He’s too busy at work, he needs to focus on selling the house and finding somewhere new, there’s always something. In reality, he’s just scared, he was married so long that he’s certain he’s forgotten how to date; got married so young he’s not sure he ever knew how; and his heart is still raw, he’s not ready to risk being hurt again. He feels bad at the thought of shutting him down again though, and he knows he can always find a reason to avoid any second dates, so he reluctantly nods.

“Yeah, fuck it, go on, then.” He sighs, feeling a little better at the way Chris beams at him.

Dan expects it to take a while for Chris to find one of his friends willing to date him, but apparently Chris had someone in mind when he asked, because the next day, Chris texts him with a date, time, address, and enough info to identify his blind date. He wishes Chris would’ve given him a little more, though. ‘His name is Josh, he’ll be the brunette in the purple shirt’ isn’t much to go on, but he knows there’s no point in prodding, if Chris was going to give him more, he would have already.

The night of his first date in seventeen years comes much faster than Dan would’ve liked. He sits in his car for fifteen minutes and almost chickens out three times before he manages to convince himself to just do it. He still has to force himself not to bolt as the hostess leads him to their table, but once he’s sitting across from Josh, it all melts away. He understands almost immediately why Chris chose Josh to set him up with, he’s sweet and funny and seems to know exactly how to steer the conversation away when it starts getting too close to the subject of Dan’s marriage or ex-wife. He’s much more at ease and maybe a tiny bit smitten by the time Josh kisses his cheek and says goodnight a few hours later.

Dan goes to see Chris after work the next day, to thank him for setting them up, and fill him in on how it went. Okay, and maybe he’s gushing a little too. By the time he’s done, Chris is grinning like a loon, and only looks the tiniest bit smug.

“See! I _knew_ you two would love each other! And the age difference isn’t even an issue, I wasn’t sure if that would bother you, but it’s great that you like him too much to…” He trails off as Dan frowns and holds his hand up.

“Wait, wait, what are you talking about, ‘age difference’? I thought he was only a couple of years younger than us or something.” He keeps frowning at Chris as he fidgets and shrugs, and eventually sighs.

“Knew I shouldn’t have fucking said anything. He’s nineteen, okay? Does it really matter when you got on with him so well?” He asks defensively, and Dan gapes at him for a moment, both in surprise at how far off he’d been, and disbelief that Chris would set him up with someone so young.

“You’re joking, right? You set me up with a _child_?!” He snaps, and Chris raises an eyebrow.

“Have you forgotten that you got married when you were his age?” He points out, and Dan scoffs.

“Yeah, but she was that age too, I wasn’t with someone fourteen years older than me.” He argues, groaning as a thought comes to him. “Fucking hell, he was _five years old_ when I got married. How can you think this is okay?” He shakes his head and stands up without waiting for an answer. “Whatever. It’s… It’s done now. Just tell him I’m not interested, or something.” He turns to leave, pausing when Chris scoffs.

“You really think he’ll believe that? If you were half as heart eyed last night as you were when you got here, he’ll know it’s bullshit. And honestly, I don’t know why you’re being such a dick about this. You were so into him ten minutes ago, I hadn’t seen you that happy in forever. He’s a legal adult and he knows his own mind and what he wants, you’re making a problem where there isn’t one.” He tells him quietly, but Dan just shakes his head angrily and leaves.

Once he calms down later, he knows Chris was right, there shouldn’t be a problem. But Dan has convinced himself that someone so young can only end up hurting him, and he already knows that if he gives himself the chance, he’s going to fall for Josh _hard_. He can’t risk that kind of heartbreak, not again. So while he admits to himself that Chris was right, he won’t say it to his face, and he won’t take back his decision.

Two days later, Dan trudges out of work; three hours later than he should have, the overtime pay better be fucking worth it; and glances up as he walks across the carpark. He freezes, trying to decide which option is worse as his eyes flick between the two figures waiting for him, his ex-wife, and Josh. He stops halfway to his car as he tries to figure out who to deal with first, but Josh makes the decision for him. He pushes himself up from where he’d been leaning against the small, banged up car parked on the other side of Dan’s car from his ex, and makes his way to where Dan feels like his feet are glued to the ground.

“Chris said you weren’t interested, but that really wasn’t the impression I got the other night. What changed? Did I do something?” Josh asks, and the mix of confidence and insecurity is a little disorientating. Dan’s already unhappy about having this conversation, but it only gets worse as he notices his ex approaching.

“Look, we’ll talk about this in a minute, I promise, I just need you to wait a sec, please?” He practically begs softly, gently touching Josh’s elbow, and Josh doesn’t look happy, but he nods reluctantly and takes a few steps away.

It’s hard to tell which of them his ex feels more disdain for as she reaches him, but Dan can’t bring himself to care. They have a tense, uncomfortable conversation, mostly her complaining about how long it’s taking to sell the house. He’s not happy about it either, it’s the last thing tying them together, and the reason he keeps having to see her, and he wants it _gone_. He half-heartedly tries to reassure her with the viewings that are set up over the following week, and gives her the estate agent’s number, hoping they’ll deal with her so he won’t have to as much, and somehow gets her to leave in under ten minutes.

Josh tries his hardest to not hear their conversation, he really does, but it’d be pretty much impossible to do without getting into his car. And he’s not going to do that, not until he and Dan have talked. Once the angry woman has left, he waits patiently, lets Dan take a few moments to breathe and gather himself and come to Josh when he’s ready. Finally, once his ex has driven away, Dan reluctantly goes back to Josh.

“Sorry about that, she’s just… It’s complicated.” He shrugs, and Josh nods with a sympathetic smile. He’s pretty sure he’s connected a few dots while he was waiting.

“That’s why you said you weren’t interested, isn’t it? You’re scared of it happening again?” He hedges, and Dan’s face goes hard and cold.

“I’m not interested because I didn’t realise I’d been set up with a damn kid.” He snaps, and turns to walk to his car, but Josh reaches out and catches his arm.

“You don’t have to put walls up and act tough, I won’t hurt you like that.” He tries to reassure him, sighing when Dan’s whole body tenses.

“You should let go of me. Right now. Before I make you.” He bites out, and though Josh isn’t ready to give up, he can see that Dan’s reached the limit of things he can deal with today. So he nods even though Dan won’t look at him, and lets him go, waiting until Dan’s gotten into his car and left before going to his own.

Chris and Josh talk about it later, and they’re almost certain the conclusion they’ve both come to is right. But they respect that Dan’s wary and scared, so they don’t push more than they already have. Instead, they come up with a softer plan, to acclimate Dan to Josh being around without having any pressure on him. This is made easier by the fact that, thanks to Chris, over the past six months or so, all of Dan’s friends have become Josh’s friends too.

Dan almost turns right back around to leave when he gets to Tom’s birthday party the following weekend, and sees Josh laughing with Max and Chris. But then Tom and Oli are on him, already half-drunk and draping themselves over him as they cover his face in sloppy kisses. He can’t help but relax as he laughs and bats them away, and he knows that now they’ve seen him, the brothers won’t let him leave before sunrise, so he resigns himself to spending the night avoiding Josh, and grabs a much-needed drink.

Dan is surprised to realise, several hours and too many drinks later, that he hasn’t had to try very hard to avoid Josh. They’ve ended up in the same circles of conversations a few times, but Josh hasn’t gone out of his way to pay more attention to Dan than he has with anyone else. In fact, it’s been pretty much exactly what he’d expect from a friend of a friend he’s met a few times. He admits; silently, to himself, while very drunk; that it kind of hurts a little that Josh forgot the whole thing so easily. But a tiny stab of pain now is still so much better than the world shattering agony that would have come sooner or later if he hadn’t put a stop to it.

Things stay the same for several months, they’re vaguely in each other’s lives, only when they’re drunk and part of a bigger conversation at someone’s party. Chris sets Dan up with a few more people, and he’s not trying to sabotage him at all, but he definitely keeps picking people he knows Dan won’t like anywhere near as much as he liked Josh. And he keeps acting surprised when Dan comes up with excuses to avoid second dates, though he doesn’t know Dan planned to do that all along.

Their situation begins to change in late November, when Chris and Oli have decided to throw a shared birthday party on the weekend between their actual birthdays. It’s cold as fuck, so they end up with several small fires that the party split off into groups to huddle around. Someone in the group around Dan’s fire suggests a game of Never Have I Ever, and he’s positive he protests, but he’s already wasted, and somehow he ends up with ten shots in front of him, Oli’s giggling wife to his right, and a swaying, equally giggly Josh to his left.

By the time it comes to Dan’s turn, he only has one shot left, but so do a few others, and he’s determined to think of something that’ll help him avoid being the first one out. Just when a couple of people are starting to fidget and are about to complain about having to wait, it comes to him, and he grins.

“Never have I ever told anyone what I’d actually rather be doing for a living.” He announces, and he feels it loses some of its flourish slightly when he has to repeat it twice more because he’s slurring so badly. But he gets the point across eventually, and Max, Oli, Lee, and Matt jokingly flip him off and curse him as they’re forced to take their last shots.

Dan loses his last shot not long after that, and Josh ends up winning; of course he does, Dan thinks, what life experience could that kid possibly have? Once the game is over, everyone’s too drunk to do much of anything, and their section of the party turns into everyone wriggling to find somewhere comfy to possibly pass out, preferably close to the fire. Dan ends up on a low sofa beside Josh, who keeps coming a little too close, then swaying away again. He eventually gives up on staying upright, and lets himself slump against Dan’s side.

“What _would_ you rather be doing for a living?” He mumbles into Dan’s shoulder, and Dan snorts softly.

“Yeah, I’m gonna tell you, so I can never use it to save myself in a drinking game again.” He half-jokes, and Josh is far too drunk to come up with a compelling argument, so he just whines and swats at Dan’s chest until Dan lets out a long-suffering sigh. “Fine, fine. I’ve…” The rest is a rushed, incoherent mumble, and Josh just about manages to lift his head enough to squint at Dan until he reluctantly repeats it. “I’ve always wanted to write a book. Maybe. I guess.” Even as drunk as he is, he’s still embarrassed, his face and neck bright red as he waits for the laughter and mocking he’s always expected he’d get if he ever admitted this.

“That’s awesome, you should do that. What would you write about?” Is Josh’s actual reaction, and Dan has to take a moment for his brain to catch up.

“Uh, I thought maybe horror, or sci-fi, maybe both,” he finally replies, and he can feel Josh’s grin against his arm, even through his thick hoodie.

“Definitely do that, I wanna read it, it’d be so good,” he murmurs, and Dan convinces himself it’s just because Josh is way too drunk and barely awake.

But then he wakes up the next morning, someone’s thrown a few blankets over him, Josh is gone, and in his place is a post-it stuck to Dan’s forehead. It takes too much energy to reach up and pull it off, and his vision is blurry, and he doesn’t end up reading it until half an hour after he wakes up, and after three cups of Tom’s hangover coffee that tastes like shit but at least he can stand on his own and see properly again. He almost forgets about the note for a while, until he feels it crinkling in his pocket, and pulls it out to take another look.

_‘I meant what I said, do the thing, it’ll be awesome. And let me know when it’s done, so I can bask in its awesome. J xx’_

Dan can’t help his pleased flush at the encouragement, especially with how obvious it is that Josh went out of his way to keep his ambition between the two of them. Even Josh’s phone number scribbled at the bottom can’t dim his mood, and he ends up folding up the note and tucking it into his wallet, it’ll do for times he needs a little boost, if nothing else.

They don’t see each other again until mid-December, at Oli’s ‘anti-Christmas party’. His house is still decorated for Halloween, and no-one’s allowed in without a costume. Which actually means most of them have turned up in onesies, but it’s close enough; and this winter’s been cold enough; that Oli lets them away with it. Dan’s just pulling his tail out from under someone’s foot for the third time, when Josh is suddenly at his side, a little too close for comfort and grinning widely. Dan can smell the vodka on him already.

“Hey, pretty lil lemur,” Josh teases, grabbing Dan’s tail and tugging on it.

“Hello… Um…?” Dan struggles, examining Josh’s blue and white onesie and learning nothing.

“Pretty lil elephant!” He grins, flipping his hood over his face so Dan can see the cute elephant face with its tiny trunk.

“Hello elephant man.” Dan’s finally able to tease back, and Josh tries to pout, but either he’s further past tipsy than Dan thought, or somehow thinks Dan is funnier than he actually is. The pout lasts for about two seconds before he’s giggling, leaning even further into Dan’s personal space.

When his giggles fade, Josh leans in even more, and Dan immediately backs up, a little wide eyed. Josh sighs and shakes his head and tries again, but Dan keeps backing up. After a few tries, Josh huffs in frustration and grabs Dan’s arm, dragging him away to a quiet hallway.

“I wasn’t trying to kiss you, dickhead, I was _trying_ to be discreet.” He informs him tartly when he’s sure no-one will overhear them, and Dan blushes a little when he realises Josh is right, he’s a dickhead.

“Oh, right, sorry, what did you need?” He stammers, and Josh relaxes against the wall as he smiles fondly.

“If only sober you were as confident as drunk you.” He teases, laughing when Dan swats him. “I just wanted to ask how the book’s coming, is all,” he finally asks, laughing softly as Dan frowns in confusion, letting him try to puzzle it out until Dan admits defeat and gives him a helpless look. “The one you said you always wanted to write. I told you to write it, remember? How’s it coming?” He elaborates, and Dan stares at him for a few moments, face and neck slowly getting redder and redder.

“Oh. I, um, yeah, I’m. I’m not… Doing that.” He finally forces out, and Josh’s grin dims a few megawatts.

“What? Why not?” He asks, trying so hard to not sound demanding that he doesn’t even notice how disappointed he sounds.

“Because it would be awful? Like, literally the worst thing ever written? And I’d never live it down? Those fuckers out there would never stop mocking me? Let me know when you hear one that’s good enough.” Dan sounds bitter, but not in a way that makes Josh feel guilty, just a sad bitter that makes Josh wish Dan would let him hold him. Instead, Josh decides to give him a shake, both figuratively and literally.

“No, that is all bullshit. Every writer sucks when they start, you’re not any different, you’re not special. So you’re going to sit the fuck down, and you’re gonna write your shitty book. Then you’re going to write it again. And you’re going to keep writing it until it’s good, until you’re so proud of it that you can’t wait to shove it in all our faces and yell ‘look at what I made!’ because I am _not_ going to sit back and watch any of my friends shove away their dreams until they shrivel up and die just because they’re a little scared it won’t immediately be perfect. You are going to work at this and work at being good at this, because I’m going to kick your fucking ass if you don’t. Got it?” Josh is breathing a little heavily by the time he’s done, hands still on Dan’s shoulders even though he stopped actually shaking him halfway through his rant. Dan stares at him, stunned, for a moment, then a grin starts to slowly split his face.

“You give some really awesome advice when you’re pissed, y’know that?” He laughs, lightly shrugging Josh’s hands away, and Josh tilts his head to the side and laughs a little.

“I mean, I’ve had one drink, but okay.” He grins, and he can tell Dan doesn’t believe him, but it doesn’t matter, Dan’s standing taller and radiating confidence, and that’s all Josh wanted from this.

Dan doesn’t believe him, because he doesn’t want to, because it’s easier to believe the only way anyone would support his dream so strongly is if they’re drunk. His bubble of denial is popped though, when Josh gets Dan’s number from Max the next morning, and over the next week, texts and calls him several times a day, pestering him to start writing, and he’s definitely sober for like, at least ninety percent of those.

He thinks he’s doing a good job of ignoring Josh’s harassment campaign, until New Year’s Day. It’s Dan’s turn to throw the New Year’s party, but he’s still slightly surprised when he wakes up in his own bed, he hadn’t expected to make it up the stairs. He’s _very_ surprised when he realises Josh is sprawled across the bed beside him. A quick check shows they’re both fully clothed; thank god; and for some reason, his laptop is on the bed at their feet.

He accidentally disturbs Josh enough to wake him as he sits up and pulls his laptop closer to investigate. He needs to connect it to the charger and sign back in, so by the time he’s able to find out what happened, Josh is mostly awake, leaning heavily on Dan’s shoulder and blinking blearily at the screen. Once Chrome opens back up and reloads the page, it only takes them a few seconds to figure it out, and Josh is suddenly fully awake, crowing with triumph far too loud. It’s a Google Docs page, simply titled ‘BOOK’, with three thousand words of badly misspelled, grammarless gibberish.

“There you go! You have your shitty first draft! You really can’t go anywhere but up from there, love!” Josh laughs happily, throwing his arm around Dan’s shoulders, shaking him a little more roughly than he normally would, trying to get him hyped up with him.

Dan doesn’t let himself get hyped up yet, mostly because he’s hungover as fuck, his house is trashed, and most of his friends are still passed out in every room. So he focuses on feeling human again, and waking them all up; and discreetly checking a few of them haven’t died; and bribing as many of them as he can into helping him clean up from the party. He does still have to sell this godforsaken house, after all.

But then he’s sober, and the house is tidy, and his friends have all gone home, and it’s really quiet in the house all of a sudden, and his laptop is right there in front of him. Before he realises he’s made the decision, he already has the laptop in his hands, and the document open. It takes forever to decipher his drunken attempt at writing, but when he’s managed it, he finally starts getting a little hyped. It isn’t the start of a book, it’s the beginnings of an outline, and once he cleans up the spelling, grammar, and layout, it’s… Actually good. Like, it’s really good.

He spends the rest of the day tidying up the outline and adding to it, and once it’s finally done at 13,000 words late the next morning, he takes a break to call Chris.

“If I wanted to get Josh something to say thank you, what would he appreciate most?” He asks without saying hello. Chris laughs and makes a few suggestive noises, and Dan doesn’t know if Chris is implying it’s what he’s thanking Josh for, or how he should thank him, but he doesn’t really care either way. “Fuck off, pervert.” He laughs, waiting for a serious answer.

“Check your texts.” Is all Chris gives him, then hangs up. Dan snorts softly and does as he’s told, finding the text from Chris that’s just a link. It leads to a wishlist on the Build-A-Bear website that he can only assume is Josh’s. He looks through it, and they’re all too cute to choose just one, so he orders them all. After a moment’s thought, he goes to a different website, and puts together an edible arrangement of all Josh’s favourite chocolates and fruits. He’s not sure how he ended up knowing what those were, probably his drunk brain hanging on to info it decided was important.

He has it all sent to Chris’ house, since he’s been so determined to play middle man all this time, he can put it all together in one pretty package and take it to Josh. Dan only just remembers to text Chris to tell him to expect the parcels, then pretty much forgets all about it. He’s doing too much overtime again, and he finally gets the house sold and finds a cute little place to rent; the party celebrating this last tie to his ex being severed lasts the whole weekend and leaves them all hungover for most of the next week; and he’s finally started working on the first draft of his book. He knows it’s definitely not as good as he thinks it is, but Josh’s inspirational speech has stuck with him, it may not be amazing, but it’s not awful, and he can just keep rewriting it until it is amazing, and he’s had the kick up the arse he needed to make sure he does do it now.

So with everything he has going on, the thank you gift is at the very back of his mind, until more than two months after he ordered it. He’s leaving work on time for once, when he’s struck with déjà vu at the sight of Josh leaning against his car, parked next to Dan’s. Thankfully his ex isn’t here this time, and he’s actually happy to see Josh, he’d been planning on finding him tonight anyway. It’s not until he’s only a few feet away that he notices the soft, multi-coloured llama tucked under Josh’s arm, and remembers ordering it all those weeks ago.

“I keep bugging you at work, sorry. I just. The note only said ‘thank you’, I was curious what I’d done.” Josh starts softly, and it feels like fate. Instead of answering, Dan pulls the folder from his bag and holds it out. Josh is even more confused, but takes it anyway. Dan can’t hold back his grin as he watches Josh read the title page and realise what he’s been given. “‘The Edge Of Time, by Dan Flint.’ This is…”

“A shitty first draft, still. I thought maybe you could be the first one to proof-read it for me.” Dan explains softly, laughing a little as Josh turns and dumps the folder and llama on his car so he can throw his arms around Dan in a tight hug.

“I can’t believe you’re really doing it, I’m so proud of you.”He murmurs against Dan’s shoulder. Dan feels strange as he hugs him back, he has to take a moment to examine it. There’s a warmth in his chest, and… Oh. His heart doesn’t feel quite as fragile as it did, and he’s not scared anymore, and yeah, there’s the regret for the way he pushed Josh away last year.

Josh’s smile dims as he pulls back and sees the sad look on Dan’s face.

“What’s wrong, love?” He asks softly, lightly touching Dan’s chin to make him look up and meet his eyes. Strangely, this seems to be all Dan needs. The sadness disappears and is replaced by what almost looks like hope.

“Nothing, just got stuck in my own head for a minute. So hey, would you wanna get dinner? Maybe… Finally have that second date?” He asks slowly, hopeful but so, so nervous. He could never blame Josh if he told him to fuck off, after how much of a dick he’d been to him for so long. Josh doesn’t tell him to fuck off. He beams and pulls Dan into another hug.

“I was starting to think you’d never ask.” He laughs softly, pressing a kiss to Dan’s forehead as Dan hugs him back and starts thinking of ways to make it all up to him.

Their second date goes even better than the first, and they quickly fall into an easy routine. Josh is living in a dingy student flat with five roommates, so they spend most of their time at Dan’s. Most nights are spent in comfortable silence together, Dan working on more drafts of his book; and Josh either proof-reading them or working on his dissertation, despite the fact he doesn’t even really need to start it for at least another year. With Josh’s help, Dan takes the best parts from all his drafts and pieces them together into the very best version of his book.

By the time Josh’s 20th birthday party rolls around, five months after he finished the first draft, Dan decides it’s as perfect as it’s going to get. At Josh’s encouragement, Dan spends a little time towards the end of the night going to each of their friends in turn and offering them a copy of the manuscript. It’s mostly so they have more eyes to catch typos or plot holes they might have both missed, but Dan can’t help nervously encouraging them all to give him their full blunt opinions. He’s still worried that it’s awful, and he’d rather know now before he starts sending it to publishers.

To the surprise of no-one but Dan, they all love it, and to the surprise of absolutely no-one, he still doesn’t fully believe it’s good. They all finish reading it within a week, and spend the next month sincerely, vehemently singing its praises. But Dan’s still unbearably nervous as he and Josh go to the post office together and send off fifteen copies to publishers all over the country. It takes another tense, nervous month before he hears back from any of them, and when he does, he barely manages to thank them and hang up before he drops the phone and sweeps Josh up into his arms, spinning them both around and laughing helplessly, because holy shit, he’s getting published, how the fuck did that happen.

They have a party the day Dan’s book is released. His little house is packed with proud, happily chatting friends and family, and despite not having a single drink, Dan is the loudest, most boisterous of them all. Most of it is nervous energy, but Josh knew this was coming, so he recruits Max, and the two of them stick to Dan’s side like glue the whole day, alternating between being boisterous with him, and distracting him with anything they can, depending on which he needs at any given moment.

Once the party has wound down, and just their little core group is left, Dan goes to one of the boxes that had started the day full of copies of his book. Most of them are empty now, but he manages to find two copies and takes them back to his friends, opening them to the dedication page and handing them to the only two people he’d felt he needed to thank.

_‘For Josh, for believing in me when I didn’t believe in myself._

_And for Chris, you were right, I was a dick. Thank you for putting up with me anyway.’_


End file.
